Panettone French Toast
This French Toast has a beautiful, rich custardy flavour, and the caramelised brown sugar adds an almost crème brûlée like finish.
SERVES
4
PEOPLE
PREP TIME
15
MINUTES
COOKING TIME
15
MINUTES
Ingredients
- 8 thickly cut slices of panettone
4 large eggs
200ml full fat milk
2 tsp Cointreau or other orange liqueur (optional)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
50g butter
A splash of rapeseed or other mildly flavoured cooking oil
50g soft brown
To serve:
A dusting of icing sugar
Fresh berries or berry compote
Crispy smoked streaky bacon
Method
Cut two thick slices of panettone per person, about three centimetres thick is perfect. Put the eggs in a bowl, along with the milk, Cointreau if using, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla essence.
Whisk to beat the eggs and combine all the ingredients fully. Pour this custard mixture into a deep baking tray that is big enough to take at least four slices of the panettone.
Warm a heavy based non-stick frying pan over a medium heat, and when it is good and hot, reduce the heat to low and add half of the butter and just a small splash of cooking oil.
The oil will help prevent the butter from burning as you cook the French toast, so do make sure to add it.
Place as many slices of panettone as will easily fit in your frying pan into the custard mixture and let them soak for one minute, then turn them over and allow them to soak on the other side for another minute.
By now your butter should have melted and started to foam. Carefully remove the slices of panettone from the custard mixture, I use a fish slice to do this, and put them into the pan to fry until they are golden brown on one side.
This will take just a few minutes. Check afet one minute to see how the toast is doing by lifting one side to see if it is golden brown. If it is not, give it one more minute.
Once the toast is perfectly cooked on one side, sprinkle about a teaspoon of soft brown sugar over the uncooked side. Use a fish slice or spatula to gently press the sugar into the custard so that it sticks.
Turn the toast over and cook for another two minutes until the other side is cooked and the sugar is nicely caramelised and golden.
Remove from the pan and place on warm plates. Use a small sieve to dust the French toast with a light sprinkle of icing sugar.
Serve immediately, with lots of fresh berries and crispy bacon, maple syrup is optional but strongly advised.
